ForumGarden

Hi All, during a Hurricane & or even a heavy wind storm is it better to open all the windows in the House to equalize the pressure, or leave them tightly closed. The object is of course for the Roof not to blow off!! Years ago, I thought I recall it was said to open the windows. But during all those nasty Hurricans they had in Florida a few months ago, not only did they "close" all the windows, they "boarded" them up!! Opinions/insight/experience? :-3

I always thought it was best to open the windows and secure all your breakables... that way the wind would blow through, make a mess for sure but not destory the house.



Having said that, everytime there is a hurricane in Floriday, you see thousands of people putting plywood all over their windows and boarding up the house tight.



lady cop went through 2 or 3 hurricanes this year.. lets see what she says

It's been a long time since I lived in hurricane country, but I vaguely recall keeping the windows closed, and taping an X over them.

We actually discussed this topic in a physics class I took a few semesters ago. Our overall consensus (after much debate) was that it was better in certain cases for your windows to be open, but anything in your house near the windows would be destroyed.

The opened windows saps some of the strength from the winds and funnels it through the window opening, which lessens the pressure of the wind on the side of your house, but creates a very strong "vortex" of wind as it whips through your window. If you open windows that are directly opposite of each other this vortex will whip right through your house in a narrow band, but if a blank wall faces your window the winds will spread out inside your home and cause much destruction.

Well said, Fyrehawke, and it sounds much like what I've heard over the

years.

If you had enough warning, you could maybe move a lot of stuff into a small

interior room. Not much help, but I bet it's better than trying to put it on

the truck and drive away!!

>>^..^ I



lady cop went through 2 or 3 hurricanes this year.. lets see what she says
actually i have been through 8 or 9 total, and in 'andrew' i had family members who lost their entire homes with all contents. i am not conversant with the physics involved , however there is no alternative to boarding up...it is not like a big wind blowing through open windows , it is a freight train of mind-bending power that is incomprehensible unless you have been through it. i am not afraid of much, but i go through terror every time a cat 4 or 5 is aimed at my area. and i am not allowed to evacuate, my sheriff dept. activates us and we are not allowed to go home for days. .....off topic to "Cars"...i went to this thread because it meant something different to me when i read the title...as hot as it is down here, we drive with cruiser windows OPEN because if someone takes a shot at us we won't have a face full of glass.